Activities

TRAINING OF POLICE AT Nagpur on The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA) – 23 rd APRIL 2011

Lawyers Collective WRI organized their fourth police training on PWDVA in collaboration with Maharashtra Police in Nagpur on 23rd April 2011. It was held at the Conference Hall of the Police Gymkhana and was attended by 66 participants from 23 police stations. For almost all the participants this was their first legal training of the PWDVA.

The first session was taken by Dr. Sudhir Bhave, Psychiatrist on the impact of violence on women. Commencing with the magnitude of the issue Dr Bhave stressed upon looking at domestic violence as a social problem rather than a private affair. Dr Bhave also elaborated upon its consequences particularly the health impact on women including psychosomatic illnesses. He also shared its impact on children and how it affects generation after generation. Finally he drew upon his experiences to explain why women need not stay in violent relationships for the sake of their children.

Thereafter “BOL” spots of real life experiences of women was screened followed by a discussion and session on the rationale and overview of PWDVA conducted by Ms Pouruchsiti Wadia, the Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at LCWI. She also covered the salient features of the Act, concluding her session with the need for a multi- agency response system

Post lunch there was a discussion following the screening of the documentary Babul. Ms. Najmussahar Asadi , the Legal Officer at LCWRI conducted a session on the role of the Police in the various stages of the litigation, the different options that the women had for approaching the court and some procedural issues like jurisdiction, forum etc. Short clippings on the Bell Bajao campaign were also shown post this session. Very practical questions were asked at the end of this session demonstrating that the police were in fact implementing the Act to some extent.

The local Protection Officer Ms Sangita Domne and Service Provider Ms Deepali Deshmukh covered the concluding session on the role of different stakeholders. They expressed that they got very good cooperation from the police but due to lack of facilities they were unable to perform their duties to the best of their abilities.

In the last session the participants held group discussions on case studies provided and presented them, demonstrating that they now had quite a good understanding of the Act. Some of the Participants expressed that the training should have extended for one more day. The post training questionnaires revealed that the training was appreciated and found to be extremely useful.

TRAINING OF POLICE AT Bhandara on the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA) – 21st APRIL 2011

On 21stApril 2011 the Mumbai unit of the Lawyers Collective conducted the third Police training in collaboration with the Maharashtra Police at the Police training Hall, Bhandara. 79 participants representing police stations from all over Bhandara attended the said training.

The training was inaugurated by the Additional S.P Mr. Vasant Jadhao who briefly spoke about the recently published depleting sex ratio particularly in Maharashtra and also shared some data on analysis done by his department. As per his records, in Bhandara only 3% of the cases had been disposed off under the PWDVA.

The first session on Gender based violence was conducted by Mr. Harish Sadani( Founder member -MAVA). This session gave a good background and set the stage for the days training. The root causes of violence were covered by him after discussing gender constructs through an interactive exercise. This was followed by screening of “Babul” and a session on the overview and rationale of the PWDVA taken by Pouruchisti Wadia (Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at LCRWRI). This session was extremely interactive and concluded with the need for a multi- agency response system to enable women live a life free from violence.

Advocate Najmussahar Asadi (Legal Officer at LCWRI) took the post lunch session on role of the police, which was preceded by screening of “Bol” spots and discussion. Advocate Manjusha Gaidhane then covered the local scenario and her positive experiences under the PWDVA. Mrunal Muneshwar the Protection Officer from Special Cell to Help Women then spoke about the role of the PO and SP and her experiences with the police in dealing with cases. This session also brought in to the open the issues of coordination between their cell and the police women’s cell and thus proved fruitful.

Case studies were circulated at the end to judge how much of the training had been absorbed and helped them to apply what they had learnt in practical life situations. The SP of Bhandara Mr. B.G Gaikar also attended the training through out the day and constantly gave his inputs. At the end of the day some of the participants came and expressed their appreciation for the training. The post training questionnaires also revealed that they had found the training extremely useful. Though all sessions were appreciated, the session on gender based violence was commended the most.

Lawyers Collective WRI (Bombay Unit) organized their first police training on PWDVA in collaboration with Maharashtra Police in Sangli on 1st April 2011. It was held at the Conference Hall of the Krishna Police Guest House and was attended by 93 participants from 27 police stations. For almost all the participants this was their first legal training of the PWDVA.

The first session was taken by Dr. Samir Gupte, Psychiatrist on the impact of violence. Apart from the health impact on women including psychosomatic illnesses etc, Dr Gupte also included the concept of counselling and the impact of violence on children drawing upon his experience to explain why women need not stay in violent relationships for the sake of their children.

This session was followed by the screening of the animated film titled “The impossible dream” which was followed by a discussion and session on the rationale and overview of PWDVA conducted by Pouruchsiti Wadia, the Senior Research and Advocacy Officer at LCWRi. A lot of time was given to interact on gender issues before covering the salient features of the Act. Some of the male participants were resistant to some of the issues and were in a denial mode but the women participants agreed wholeheartedly with what was being said and countered some of the arguments their colleagues presented. This session concluded with the need for a multi- agency response system to enable women live a life free from violence.

Post lunch after a recap of the morning session and the screening and discussion on the film “Babul”, Najmussahar Asadi the Legal Officer at LCWRI conducted a session on the role of the Police in the various stages of the litigation, the different options that the women had for approaching the court and some procedural issues like jurisdiction, forum etc.

The concluding session was the role of different stakeholders was covered by the local Protection Officer (Sandeep Devmore), Service Provider (Santosh Sutar) and Advocate S.M Pakhali (Legal Services Authority) and each of them talked briefly about their role and their experiences. This session also enabled them to clear some issues that they had with each other as regards their roles and reinforced our belief that as compared to other districts in Maharashtra which we covered, Sangli seemed to have a better referral system between the different stakeholders and they did attempt to provide an aggrieved woman with a multi-agency response. In this training the participants once again requested for a detail list of POs which had been circulated in the past.

Before concluding for the day case studies were read out to the participants and they responded to the questions raised. This helped us to conclude that they had indeed absorbed the inputs provided in the training. As per our standard practice Pre training and Post training questionnaires had been distributed and in their feedback, the participants conveyed that they found the training useful. Some participants shared that according to them the time allotted of one day was inadequate and they would have liked to have a more comprehensive training.

Lawyers Collective has planned six more Police trainings in different parts of Maharashtra and we plan to complete them in the months of April and May 2011.

Lawyers collective had organized their third police (Range) training on PWDVA in collaboration with Special Police Unit for Women and Children, Nanakpura on 9th April 2011 at NCUI Auditorium, Siri Fort Institutional Area, Khel Gaon Marg. Approximately 80 participants comprising of inspectors and sub inspectors from south, west, south-west and south-east districts had attended this training. A representative from the SPUWC (Special Police Unit for Women and Children, Nanakpura) was also present for the training.

Paroma Ray, programme officer in Lawyers Collective briefly introduced the concept of the training and gave a brief background of Lawyers Collective. This was followed by a session on the Impact of domestic Violence presided over by Khadijah, a senior member of Jagori whereshe briefly spoke about the treatment meted out to women, at this time and age in India.She laid emphasis on the need for social institutions to safeguard the interest of every individual, particularly where equal rights of women were concerned.The discussion was followed by the screening of an animated film titled “The impossible dream”.The second session was on the rationale and overview of PWDVA conducted byLiyi Marli Noshi and Supriya Yadav ofLawyers Collective. In this session we screened a music video “Babul” wherein the members of the audience were asked to identify the different forms of violence faced by the women in the video. They spoke about the Act in great detail which was followed by a quick explanation of the overview of the PWDVA. Subsequently, a session on the role of police and procedure under the PWDVA was taken by Adv.Jawahar Raja, a Delhi High Court advocate.In the first half of the session, we had screened advertisements from the Bell Bajao Campaign and briefly explained the significance and the use of the forms (Form I and II) attached to the PWDVA.A lot of queries raised by the police were answered in the second half of the session.

In the concluding session, the participants were broken into six groups and were given 6 different cases to study. They were given time to discuss the case and at the end of their allotted time; one person from each group came and gave a presentation on the assigned case.

Pre training questionnaires and Post training questionnaires were administered in the beginning and the end of the training.

TRAINING OF POLICE ON THE PWDVA 2005 New Delhi.- 26TH MARCH 2011

The Lawyers Collective Women’s Rights Initiative (WRI), in collaboration with Special Police Unit for Women and Children, had organized their second Police training on 26 March 2011 (Saturday) for the Central Range of the Delhi Police. The training was held at ISI, Lodhi Road and attended by approximately 70 participants from three districts of Delhi (New Delhi, North East and East). A lot of young officers and new recruits attended this training. Several women police officers had also come for this training. All the participants said that this was their first legal training of the PWDVA. A representative from the Nanakpura Police station also attended this training and actively took part in all the sessions. The first session was conducted by two resource persons from the Center of Social Research (Niharika and Amitabh). They screened the “Impossible Dream” and kept their session very interactive. Amitabh reached out participants and managed to make the session very interactive. The participants also seemed to be more comfortable with a male resource person for this session. Niharika spoke about the inequality inherent in our society and mindsets. We had a very positive feedback from the participants about their session who were very impressed that young people were involved in such work. Over all, it was felt that the participants were not resistant to gender sessions anymore. They were aware of existing inequalities, gender stereotyping, need for laws for women and the high rate of crime against women in the city. This was followed by a session on Overview and Rationale, taken by Paroma Ray, the programme officer at LCWRI. The participants were aware of the reason behind the enactment of this law and they showed an interest in speaking about why this law should be in implemented effectively in our country. Since all the participants were being trained for the first time under the PWDVA, Paroma spoke about the Act in great detail and clarified their doubts using examples etc. Furthermore she elucidated the need for multi-agency coordination and the role of various stakeholders under the Act.

The third session was on the Role of Police and Procedure conducted by Nandita Rao. Nandita explained the role of police in great detail and her session was very well appreciated by all the participants. She clarified all the procedural doubts that the Police had regarding PWDVA, 498A IPC, 125 Cr.P.C. and other related legal provisions. Our final session was case studies where we formed 6 groups with participants and gave them 6 different case studies. One person from each group came forward to make a presentation after discussion. They identified the different types of violence, nature of relief, role of the POs and the police quite well.

Just as in the first training, pre-training questionnaires and post-training questionnaires weregiven out to all participantsin the beginning and the end to find out their existing knowledge about the Act and for assessing the impact of the sessions.

Lawyers Collective had organized their first police (Range) training on PWDVA in collaboration with Special Police Unit for Women and Children, Nanakpura on 19th March 2011 at Vishwa Yuvak Kendra .The training covered the Northern Range of the Delhi Police and about 65 representatives comprising of inspectors and sub inspectors from the Central district, North district, North West district and Outer district attended the said training.

To flag off the training, representatives from the SPUWC (Special Police Unit for Women and Children, Nanakpura)-ACP Laxmi and CP Sharma addressed the participants and thanked Lawyers collective for initiating the awareness programme. The training comprised of a session on the Impact of domestic Violence where an animated film titled “The impossible dream” was screened. The screening was followed by a discussion initiated by our resource person Niharika Puri from CSR. The second session was on the rationale and overview of PWDVA conducted by Paroma Ray, the programme officer at LCWRI. In this session, we screened an advertisement from the Bell Bajao Campaign before the presentation. This was followed by a session on the role of police and procedure under the PWDVA by Adv. Pragya Raut along with our legal officer Adv. Liyi Marli Noshi. A lot of queries raised by the police were answered in this session.

In the concluding session, survivors Rashmi Anand, Farya and Priya from our Survivor Group Programme initiated by LCWRI, shared their experiences. Initially, their experiences were presented to the Police like a case study. The police were asked for their responses on the same, after which the survivors were invited to speak. The officers gave them a patient hearing and did not make any judgmental comments about the same.

Pre training questionnaires and Post training questionnaires were distributed among the participants in the beginning and the end for an assessment of the impact of the sessions. This also helped gauge existing knowledge about the Act.

In their feedback, the participants told us that they enjoyed the training and looked forward to more such sessions. They pointed out that listening to the survivors in a forum like this enabled them to think from the point of view of the victim. They also found the rationale and overview session very useful.

It must also be pointed out that Lawyers Collective shall further be conducting two more trainings for the police on the 26th of March 2011 and the 9th of April 2011.